Five days after a committee deadlock doomed his effort to allow charter schools in Virginia, Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, tried to sneak it through the House Wednesday as an amendment to another school-related measure. Hamilton's attempt to tack his charter schools provision onto a bill expanding local options for alternative-education programs failed when the original alternative-education bill was sent to the House Appropriations Committee on a 58-39 vote. Hamilton counted the losing votes as votes for the charter schools measure, which had died on an 11-11 vote in the Education Committee Friday.

The Virginia Board of Education will hold a public hearing in Hampton on Oct. 18 as part of its efforts to update the state's education Standards of Quality. The standards, called SOQs, determine the basic programs, staffing, courses, training and testing in the state's public school systems. They have been required by the state Constitution since 1971 and must be reviewed every two years. The state board is in the process of that two-year review and revise period. The state's Standards of Learning for reading, math, science and social studies, arise from the SOQs, as do the state required tests for those subjects and the accreditation ratings based on those tests.

— In an effort to reach more at-risk students, Williamsburg-James City County school division officials are proposing changes to the district's alternative education program. Currently, more than 40 seventh and eighth grade students struggling academically attend the Academy for Life and Learning, known as ALL, the division's dropout prevention program that began in 2008. Under a new plan announced Tuesday, those students, and students with discipline problems, would report to a dean at their middle schools.

GLOUCESTER — The county School Board Tuesday discussed plans for the use of the new Page Middle School and the former T.C. Walker Elementary School. School Board members discussed the master site plan for the new Page Middle School. Superintendent Ben Kiser said the main priority is to build a quality educational facility with the funds allowed to the board. "We are working toward a design we can build for $26 million," he said. Kiser also addressed amenities such as a competitive gymnasium and full-scale auditorium that would add over $5 million to the cost of construction.

Administrators said this week they supported several recommendations to alternative education in Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools but would need about $1 million to implement the changes. Superintendent Gary S. Mathews told city and county officials, as well as School Board members, in meetings Tuesday that he and other administrators had picked through a task force report on alternative education. The report was released to the public last month and included a long list of improvements and changes to the district's system for educating students who are suspended or expelled, or who learn better in nontraditional environments.

The Williamsburg-James City County School Board has delayed a decision on whether to revamp the area's alternative education program, with board members asking for more time to examine the proposed changes. Members of the board, which met Tuesday night, are concerned about a proposed change that would send suspended or expelled students to classes at the Enterprise Academy in Newport News. Currently, these students are served by W-JCC's Academy of Life and Learning. Under a proposal submitted by academy leader Anthony Mungin, the academy would serve only students, primarily eighth graders, who are having academic trouble but not discipline problems.

The Williamsburg-James City County school district's revamped alternative education program got its new home Tuesday night. Whether it belongs there is another issue. Supervisors unanimously voted to allow the installation of four trailers at the Eastern State Hospital site because there was no land use concern with the trailers' placement. But supervisors wondered whether there was a more appropriate site and frowned on the districts' five-year timeline to create a permanent home.

Williamsburg-James City County school officials showed off their new, larger, brighter alternative education digs Tuesday amid the pungent scent of fresh paint and the bumping, scuffing sounds of workers working. The result of a partnership between the school system and Eastern State Hospital, the new classrooms will occupy the entire second floor of Building 10, across the road from Plumeri Baseball Park. This about quadruples the space the alternative education program had last year, explained Schools Superintendent David Martin, noting that the building on Centerville Road that burned down this spring was "a house."

OPEN HOUSE. Parents and students are encouraged to attend Open House on Sept. 4 at each Williamsburg-James City County school: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., high schools and off-site alternative education; noon-2 p.m., middle schools; 1-3 p.m., elementary schools. BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT. Back-to-School Night for Williamsburg-James City County schools are on the following dates: Sept. 21, Jamestown High School; Sept. 22, elementary schools; Sept. 24, middle schools; Sept. 29, off-site alternative education; Sept.

A fire that destroyed the Williamsburg-James City County Alternative Education School on Centerville Road early Sunday also disrupted the last two weeks of school for the school's 47 students. School officials spent Memorial Day calling the families of all the students involved to inform them of alternate plans for the alternative education classes. Also, counselors were on hand Tuesday to meet the school buses and help students deal with any feelings of loss or stress, said Chuck Maranzano, a spokesman for the school system.

—Williamsburg-James City County School Board members are lending support to a new alternative education plan to place deans in the district's middle schools to address the needs of at-risk students. However, board members want more information about the dean position before casting their final vote. The board heard the proposal, which district administrators released on Nov. 30, at Tuesday night's meeting. According to the plan, deans would be placed in all of three middle schools next year and would be responsible for helping struggling learners and students with discipline and behavior problems.

— Parents, students and supporters of the Williamsburg-James City County Schools Academy of Life and Learning packed Tuesday night's School Board meeting to voice their opposition to changes being proposed to the district's alternative education program. The Williamsburg-James City County School Board heard a proposal at the meeting that district administrators announced Nov. 30, which would place deans in each of the division's middle schools next year to help at-risk students.

— Williamsburg-James City County Schools' middle school dropout prevention program would be disbanded next fall if the School Board supports a plan to put deans in each of its three middle schools. The proposal, which district officials first announced on Nov. 30, would assign deans to all three of the district's middle schools starting next school year to help at-risk students, such as struggling learners and students with discipline problems. Deans would be responsible for identifying at-risk students, in addition to developing preventative measures and interventions to ensure student success.

— In an effort to reach more at-risk students, Williamsburg-James City County school division officials are proposing changes to the district's alternative education program. Currently, more than 40 seventh and eighth grade students struggling academically attend the Academy for Life and Learning, known as ALL, the division's dropout prevention program that began in 2008. Under a new plan announced Tuesday, those students, and students with discipline problems, would report to a dean at their middle schools.

— As Anthony Mungin walked the halls of the Academy for Life and Learning greeting students last week he couldn't help but think about how far the Williamsburg-James City County alternative education program had come. Mungin, leader of the district's middle school dropout prevention program, recalled its humble beginnings, when it was housed in a trailer at Toano Middle School, and most recently in four portable classrooms at Eastern State Hospital. The academy got a permanent home last month and last Tuesday Mungin and his staff welcomed 43 seventh- and eighth-graders into the program's new digs, located in the renovated annex building of the former James Blair Middle School.

It was after 10:30 a.m. when Christian Bearisto nervously popped his head into Principal Anthony Mungin's office and started explaining his tardiness. "I walked to school today, Mr. Mungin," said the James City County eighth-grader, who was bundled in an overcoat against the bitter cold of an early January morning. "My bus didn't come and I had to walk to school. It took me two hours to get here in the cold, but I'm here now. Want me to go to class?" "No, go see Ms. Bates and warm up," said Mungin, principal of Williamsburg-James City County's Academy for Life and Learning.

— It was after 10:30 a.m. when Christian Bearisto nervously popped his head into Principal Anthony Mungin's office and started explaining his tardiness. "I walked to school today, Mr. Mungin," said the James City County eighth-grader, who was bundled in an overcoat against the bitter cold of an early January morning. "My bus didn't come and I had to walk to school. It took me two hours to get here in the cold, but I'm here now. Want me to go to class?" "No, go see Ms. Bates and warm up," said Mungin, principal of Williamsburg-James City County's Academy for Life and Learning.

Last year Williamsburg-James City County schools sent 770 children home, many no doubt unsupervised, for between one and 10 days; 114 kids were sent home longer. Some 122 children missed classroom instruction for five days (a week of school!), and a whopping 85 were out of school for 10 days. And 200 children in special education were also written up for infractions. What did all these children do to deserve out-of-school suspension? Is there a discipline crisis in W-JCC schools? No, it turns out that the No. 1 infraction last year was cutting class, followed closely by showing disrespect.